BLOG: Love Your Sourdough Starter? In Stockholm You Can Hire a Sitter for it.

Ah, Stockholm: the only city in the world (we think) with such a meticulous dedication to artisinal bread that it’s possible to hire a baby sitter for your sourdough starter.

Sourdough starter — a fermented mix of flour, water and procreating microorganisms — is the crucial ingredient in bread made the old-fashioned way, without the help of commercial yeast. A batch of starter can live indefinitely, getting passed on or shared as it grows and expands. But it also requires a certain amount of care and feeding, which apparently can pose a problem for Swedes and their five weeks of annual vacation.

Enter the friendly folks at RC Chocolat. For about three years, this bakery has been quietly offering travelers the peace of mind that comes with leaving a precious possession in the hands of qualified professionals. For $3 a day, a flour-covered aficionado can drop off her sourdough at the bakery’s Stockholm Arlanda Airport location, fly off to exotic places, and return home to reclaim a happy and well-fed bucket of glop.